July 21, 2014 — Optech is pleased to announce that it is the official sponsor for the MAPPS Golf Tournament at the MAPPS 2014 Summer Conference. Held this year on July 27-30 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, the conference attracts firms involved in surveying, spatial data and GIS from all over North America to discuss matters of industry-wide importance. Optech will be there to share a new application for integrating small UAVs with terrestrial lidar, and highlight the growing importance of airborne lidar bathymetry.

This year’s Golf Tournament is taking place on Wednesday, July 30 at the scenic Coeur d’Alene Golf Course, known for its unusual “floating” green on the 14^th hole in the middle of the lake. The tournament is in a scramble format open to members, guests and spouses of all skill levels, so if you wish to enjoy the beautiful course and network with fellow professionals, remember to register before the cut-off date of July 27.

During the conference itself, Monday, July 28 will be dedicated to discussing how to employ small UAVs for surveying, including the legal and technical hurdles users may face. One of the more recent developments in this field is the combination of ground-based lidar, supplemented by close-range UAV stereo photogrammetry.  This combination of sensors allows surveyors to capture high-resolution 3D lidar point clouds from the ground, fused with aerial 3D point clouds generated from the UAV stereo pairs, to produce complete models with no holes, shadows or gaps. Optech’s partner geo-konzept recently proved the efficiency of this approach by combining an Optech ILRIS terrestrial laser scanner and their own geo-X8000 UAV in a recent project in Germany, significantly cutting the time needed for the survey. Attendees are welcome to ask Optech staff for more information about this technique.

Finally, Optech, Inc. President Max Elbaz will join a panel to discuss the many applications of bathymetric/topographic lidar systems and data at 11:00 am – 12:00 pm on Tuesday, July 29. Foremost among these lidar systems is the Optech CZMIL, which is in use by several government agencies, some of whom will have their own representatives on the panel. By penetrating 80 meters deep in clear conditions and mapping bathymetry in turbid and muddy-bottomed waters, CZMIL surveys environments other sensors cannot touch, opening the door to a wider variety of applications. The CZMIL HydroFusion software workflow also provides the maximum in productivity by automatically fusing the data from CZMIL’s lidar, hyperspectral and RGB sensors to create an extensive list of deliverables beyond what is possible with other systems.

About Optech

Optech is the world leader in high-accuracy lidar 3D survey systems, integrated cameras, and productivity-enhancing workflows. With operations and staff worldwide, Optech offers both standalone and fully integrated lidar and camera solutions in airborne mapping, airborne lidar bathymetry, mobile mapping, terrestrial laser scanning, mine cavity monitoring, and industrial process control, as well as space-proven sensors. Accuracy and productivity matter!

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